The Agitator

I’m seeing more and more marketing articles these days that emphasize relationship building and seriously engaging “best” customers. Here’s an example from Seth Godin, where he discusses Fans, participants and spectators: “Likes, friendlies and hits are all ...  Read more

Seth Godin did one of his trademark "short but sweet" — and provocative — posts the other day, titled, No New Customers. Here it is in its entirety … What if a rift in the time-space continuum changed the universe and it was suddenly impossible to get new customers ...  Read more

Since The Agitator has heaps of readers with .edu email addresses, I thought I’d pass along a blog post by Seth Godin especially for you! It’s called The Coming Meltdown in Higher Education (as seen by a marketer), and while it gives Godin’s full critique of today’s higher ...  Read more

Not every Agitator reader has a multi-million dollar fundraising and communications budget to work with! So we keep an eye out for fundraising advice that’s especially relevant for smaller nonprofits. Here’s an example from Doodig Blogs. This article — 5 Top Fundraising Mistakes ...  Read more

From a recent post by marketing maven Seth Godin: "…someone’s worldview, how they feel about risk or other factors, is beyond your ability to change in the short run. Sell people something they’re interesting in buying. If you can’t leverage the worldview they already ...  Read more

I’ve been hoarding some recent posts by Seth Godin that are especially pertinent to fundraising. Yesterday I talked about a post where his message was, in effect. don’t ask for money on the first date … cultivate, then ask. I suggested that his dictum might apply in the ...  Read more

Marketing maven Seth Godin wrote The First Transaction, an interesting post about the need for cultivation to precede any ask for money. It’s a short post, so I’m reproducing most of it here … "Digital transactions are essentially free for you to provide. I can give you ...  Read more

Last week Seth Godin, as he often does, posed an important ‘what if?’ with huge implications for fundraisers and advocacy campaigners: What if you knew which of your constituents had “clout” in terms of their capacity to spread ideas and help your organization break ...  Read more

I don’t know what set him off, but marketing maven Seth Godin recently posted an article titled Magic beans, TV and the web. Here’s the kernel: "On the web, there are countless marketers just standing around waiting for someone to hand them the magic beans. And that’s the ...  Read more

Last week, I applauded blogger Jeff Brooks, who was critical of Charity Navigator for casting aspersions on direct mail fundraising … specifically for buying into the "myth that fundraising is a form of harassment." I stand by that. But I do accept that most direct response ...  Read more